62% of consumers identify product news and information, 47% identify customer comments and reviews and 43% identify direct response to my questions when asked what type of information they find most important when connecting with brands, according to eMarketer. Consumers seek information they can learn from, feedback they can act on and community they can be part of.

In short, consumers want value. They want their relationship with a brand to pay off.

You’re Present, but Why Should I Care?

Being present isn’t enough. Social consumers aren’t looking for a brand that’s a good listener, and most brands aren’t even that. They’re loud self-promoters. Consumers want brands to take action to earn their business.

Social media can do just that as it has the potential be part of what your brand sells. Online customer service, exclusive brand information and improved relationship management allow brands to leverage social media as added value for their customers. Brands can go beyond their customers’ expectations.

At the end of the day, a brand’s social media followers aren’t there to serve the brand. They’re there to be served by the brand, and brands that deliver earn social currency that generates consumer trust and word of mouth referrals.

What Do We Do That Social Can Amplify?

Thriving brands deliver something their customers seek. Social media shouldn’t cause brands to try to do something different. 90% of the time they can deliver that same value. It’s just in a different way.

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Identify what your brand can do to improve consumer’s lives, deliver it online and invite your customers to join you. And remember to back up your words with actions. If you promise your customers value, make sure you deliver it without being confusing, slow or inefficient. Any trust gained will quickly be lost.

Focus on others to benefit your brand.

Marketers that create a brand presence on social media platforms lack one very important thing in the beginning: an audience, and that is what marketers and their bosses constantly hunger for. From Facebook fans to YouTube subscribers to Twitter followers and so on, marketers want more of them and often they have no idea why. They just want them.

An audience is one thing, but it’s another thing to define what kind of audience will best serve business objectives. Do you want a following or do you want a community?

We want a following.

A following is essentially a body of people that has subscribed to your brand's content by clicking 'like,' follow, subscribe and so on. This group has seen something from the brand that they'd like to see more of in one way or another in their social streams, but beyond that, they may not want more.

Marketers are often after a following. They don't care who it is or why. They just want to see the number go up. That number, for better or worse, is one way that marketers can easily point to in company meetings or hold up to a competitor's number and say, "See. We're doing it."

But the number is only cosmetic. A following is great, and it's important for a brand to build an audience in the social space, but efforts can't stop there. Any brand can get a following and for much less time and energy just by buying a traditional ad and getting its content in front of millions of people. Social media isn't made for just building followings. It's made to take them a step further.

We really want a community.

A community is a group of people living together and practicing common ownership. Now, that's powerful. A community is a following that's evolved to a more invested and more valuable long-term group of consumers invested in a brand. They want to spread the word and help the brand succeed by sharing their personal thoughts and opinions.

A following is about quantity and growing the numbers, but the number means nothing if the following isn't invested. They can hide posts from their News Feeds and ignore tweets. A community is on the lookout for more content.

While a following can be bought, a community must be earned by proving value over the long-term to those who have chosen to follow.

Building a following is a short-term objective, but marketers shouldn't be short-sighted. The true value that social media can deliver like nothing else is the ability to build a community. Don't get caught up in the numbers associated with building a following. Gauge the quality of that following and the potential for it to turn into a community of invested advocates eager to spread online word of mouth related to the brand.